Again, no women: “A new cult audience joined people who'd tuned in for the network run. They started meeting at conventions and discovered others who shared their passion. There wasn't any Internet yet, but the rudiments of the modern fan-boy network—a less fractious, more benevolent version of it—had materialized.”

But hey, I can forgive this author; at least he knows what he’s talking about and has some very interesting observations.

girl eye for the fandom guy

The most popular perception of a Star Trek fan as seen from outside of the actual fandom is decidedly male- and decidedly unflattering. There's the aging, immature male spinster living in a parent's attic or basement and then there's the extremely young ubernerd guy who is awkward and sexually naive.

It's a stereotype that retains a great deal of popularity in our pop culture.

I wrote professionally about music most of my adult life, yet it was still a revelation for me to discover that the vast majority of Heavy Metal fans were female. It is, after all, a music culture crammed with extreme macho posturing, almost exclusively male icons and simplified teenage male wish-fulfillment ideas about girls and women and sexuality.

Yet without those female fans, Metal could never have become as popular or marketable as it was when it was the reigning musical trend.

As cliche and academic as it sounds, The Female Gaze is still incomprehensible notion to a lot of people involved in taste-making and the media.

by the way

I have had the pleasure of reading your fiction recently as I research and compile a comprehensive recommendation page for fiction in the Star Trek fandom. You are a wonderfully imaginative storyteller with an instantly recognizeable and lyrical literary voice. I am both envious and inspired. Thank you, truly.